Indiana Strategic Skills Initiative

Built with the goal of creating new jobs and raising
Hoosier income, the Strategic Skills Initiative (SSI) fights unemployment
by going directly to its root causes. It is an initiative of the Indiana
Department of Workforce Development, and one of its goals is to identify
and alleviate shortages projected to exist in critical occupations and
specific skill sets within high-wage Indiana industries. Here are some
of the initial findings.

Occupational Shortages

Table 1 lists the high wage occupations
that were identified by each of the economic growth regions (EGRs) as
having a critical shortage of qualified workers in the next 24 months.
Occupations are listed by the number of regions reporting a shortage for
the occupation and the total reported shortage by 2007. High-wage occupations
are defined as those that have an average wage exceeding the statewide
median wage of $27,204 for all occupations in the current Occupational
Employment Statistics (OES) survey.

Table 1: High-Wage Occupations with Critical Shortages
in Given Occupation

Occupations in the health care services sector were
reported as having the largest shortage, including registered nurses (RNs),
licensed practical nurses (LPNs) and respiratory therapists. RNs ranked
the highest in terms of both the number of regions reporting shortages
and the total number of job vacancies expected in the next 24 months.
Seven of the nine regions reporting data reported shortages for RNs for
a total of 1,644 job vacancies. The only regions not reporting an RN shortage
were Region 4 and Region 7. Four regions (2, 7, 8 and 10) reported a shortage
for respiratory therapists for 76 job vacancies.

Manufacturing was a close contender with health care services, as the
EGRs reported a total shortage of 1,576 for that industry sector. Five
regions (2, 3, 4, 5 and 6) reported metal and plastic computer-controlled
machine tool operators as having a shortage with a total of 328 job vacancies.
Welders, cutters, solderers and brazers possessed the biggest shortage
(525 vacancies), while metal and plastics machinists had the second highest
at 443.

Of all the occupational shortages reported, pharmacists
have the highest annual wage of $80,664. First-line supervisors/managers
of mechanics, installers and repairers have the second highest annual
wage of $49,820.

New and Emerging Occupations

New and emerging occupations are defined here in two
ways. The first is simply a new occupation—one that cannot be adequately
described within the existing Standard Occupational Classification (SOC)
system. This typically occurs when the tasks and skills required of an
occupation do not fit neatly into an existing classification because of
fundamental changes in the way things are done in an industry. Industries
experiencing technological transformation may warrant new titles and work
activities. Secondly, existing occupations may emerge into industries
that have developed new technologies and processes requiring already existing
occupations within the SOC system, but are new to the changed industry.

The following occupations appear to be emerging into
industries where they have not appeared before and were reported as a
shortage occupation in at least one EGR. These were found in at least
five industries in the latest OES survey for Indiana.(1)
None had been reported as existing within those industries in previous
surveys. Five industry sectors were predominant in producing these emerging
occupations. Those five are manufacturing, retail trade, wholesale trade,
information and finance and insurance. Manufacturing is the number one
sector for these emerging occupations by far. All listed occupations,
except dispatchers, were newly found in at least one manufacturing industry.

Bridging Occupations to Skills in Demand

Region 6 identified emerging occupations within an emerging
industry - Agribusiness (farming as a large-scale business operation combining
the production, processing and distribution of agricultural products and
the manufacture of farm machinery, equipment and supplies). By seeking
and receiving feedback from local industry experts on technological advancements
in biofuels and value-added research, Region 6 was able to identify life
scientists and business operations specialists as emerging occupational
groups that are expected to grow. Skills that will need to be cultivated
in order to fill expected shortages can be identified by looking at the
Department of Labor's O*NET classification of skills by occupation. The
five most common critical skills for life scientists are science, reading
comprehension, critical thinking, active learning and writing. For business
operations specialists, critical skills include speaking, reading comprehension,
active listening, critical thinking and writing. A complete listing of
O*NET skills and corresponding definitions is available athttp://online.onetcenter.org/skills.

In contrast, critical skills for manufacturing include
operation and control, equipment selection, mathematics, troubleshooting,
and operation monitoring. First-line supervisors/managers of production
and operating workers was closely aligned with skills required of occupations
in health care services to include coordination, critical thinking, reading
comprehension, speaking and time management. Table 3
describes these high-demand skills.

Table 3: Description of Skills in Highest Demand

Addressing Skill Gaps

As Indiana's economic growth regions proceed with determining
root causes and solutions during subsequent phases of SSI, emphasis should
be made on 1) the relationship between emerging high demand/high wage
occupations and the skills associated with those occupations, 2) developing
career pathways, and 3) bridging the gap between supply and demand of
qualified workers.

Addressing the root causes for skill shortages and developing
sound solutions will be contingent on the ability of the regions to foster
coalitions between industry partners, education institutions and organizations
that provide supportive services to job seekers who wish to develop those
skills in need. The accuracy of identifying root causes and the quality
of the solutions to address these skills gaps are critical to Indiana's
economic health and competitive business survival.

Notes

The OES survey date referenced for Indiana emerging occupations is
May 2004.

Hope Clark, Director,
Research and Analysis,
and Jon Wright, Advanced
Economic and Market Analysis
Indiana Department of Workforce
Development